By Erin Free
A series of Aussie cult classics – Going Down, Dead End Drive-In and Midnite Spares – are set to screen at Sydney’s Darling Square Library, with local cult connoisseurs Jay Katz & Miss Death on hosting duties.
“Australian genre films were a lot of fun because they were legitimate genre movies. They were real genre films and they dealt, in a way like the Italians did, with the excess of genre, and that has been an influence on me. By the way, I coined the term Ozploitation. I’m not going to charge you a royalty but there should be a little R next to that expression, with a little circle around it.” – Quentin Tarantino
Via Mark Hartley’s classic documentary Not Quite Hollywood and a swelling number of interviews and podcasts since, uber-cult-director and incisive cineast Quentin Tarantino’s love of Australian exploitation and outré flicks of the 1970s and 1980s is now well and truly noted. Likely pleasing the film-geek-of-all-film-geeks would be an upcoming program of local cult favourites at The Darling Square Library, located in the famous “bird’s nest” building wedged gloriously between Ultimo and Darling Harbour.
Kicking off with three rollicking, wildly entertaining flicks from the 1980s, the screenings are presented and hosted by famed Sydney cult film connoisseurs Jay Katz and Miss Death of Mu Meson, whose legendary Mu Meson Archives in Annandale played host to a wide variety of transgressive and psychotronic cinematic wonders for over 23 eye-popping and head-tripping years. Jay Katz (aka Jaimie Leonrarder) was also the subject of the 2002 documentary, Love and Anarchy: The Wild, Wild World of Jaimie Leonarder and had a brief stint as co-host of SBS’s post-Margaret & David The Movie Show while also hosting the radio show, The Naked City on Sydney’s FBi radio.
The first film up on Thursday, October 1 is 1983’s Going Down, which recently enjoyed a successful theatrical re-release after years of obscurity. The film’s director Haydn Keenan will be on hand to chat about his experiences making this wild, freewheeling, femme-driven comedy about four young women on a big night out on the streets of a Sydney that doesn’t exist anymore. Starring Tracy Mann, David Argue, Vera Plevnik, Esben Storm, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Ralph Cotterill, Richard Moir, Charles Waterstreet, Gary Foley, Tim Burns and a very young Claudia Karvan, Going Down is a true time capsule of Sydney inner-city life and mores in the 1980s, and also features a cracking soundtrack.
Next up on Thursday October 15 is 1986’s dystopian gem Dead End Drive-In, directed by cult hero Brian Trenchard-Smith (The Man From Hong Kong, BMX Bandits, Turkey Shoot, Siege At Firebase Gloria), and hailed by uber-fan Quentin Tarantino as his favourite of the director’s films. Following the screening, Jay Katz & Miss Death will present a brief history of Brian Trenchard-Smith’s films and the rise and fall of drive-in cinemas in Australia, including some of the stranger UFO and UAP stories associated with drive-ins. A pre-recorded contribution from director Brian Trenchard-Smith is also planned.
The third film in the series unspools on Thursday November 19. Directed by Quentin Masters, 1983’s Midnite Spares is set deep in the world of speedway racing, smash repairs and the motor trade. The film taps into the same rough-edged car culture that helped define a new wave of Australian action cinema with George Miller’s Mad Max films, and stars James Laurie, Gia Carides, Max Cullen and Bruce Spence. Following the screening, film critic, curator and historian Richard Kuipers will present a brief history of Ozploitation cinema, exploring the unruly wave of Australian genre filmmaking that produced cult action, horror and exploitation favourites during the 1970s and 1980s.
“This is a great opportunity for Sydney film fans to engage with some Aussie cult classics that they might have missed,” says Nima Afshar, Programs Coordinator at City of Sydney Libraries, and curator of the upcoming film series. “And best of all…it’s free!”
All screenings are FREE and take place at Darling Square Library, The Exchange, Little Pier Street, Haymarket and kick off at 5:30pm.
For all information and to book a seat for Going Down on October 1, click here.
For all information and to book a seat for Dead End Drive-In on October 15, click here.
For all information and to book a seat for Midnite Spares on November 19, click here.
I think you’ll find that QT didn’t coin the word Ozploitation. He coined the uncatchy moniker “Aussie-exploitation”.
The word Ozploitation first appeared on the poster and in the title sequence of NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD.